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 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
Also, beef curry! How unexpected! Like, genuinely.

No I get it, that's understandable. I've no idea of the background of the chef who wrote it. The problem we have in our neck of the woods is that "curry" is so often correlated to Hindu when the south Asian diet is spread across a wide variety of cultures. They're not necessarily eating the same stuff in Islamabad as they are in Dhaka.

So long as it’s tasty, authenticity is a secondary concern!

For the first time ever, I had rabbit today. Bought one at the store, made my own bit of stuffing for it, and cooked it in a dutch oven on a bed of potatoes and carrots.

And it just tasted like chicken. And cost about five times what a chicken would have cost. Oh well, at least I tried it.

We do rabbits in stew only when we hunt enough. I know of one store around here that sells them and the cost is not worth it.

Did make Gulash 2 days ago with Stag.
Was supperb.

Did steak with mushroom sauce today.

Super easy, and very tasty. Mushrooms, peppercorns, and a dash of sherry for a little sweetness.

Fantastic.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:


When the recipes and ingredients are this accessible, I can only hope it provides support and encouragement to those who don’t have the easiest time making the monthly ends meat.

Speaking of accessible ingredients and cooking steps, I thought I'd share a new family favorite that fits here. Now, the "recipe" itself comes from "Feed Zone" which is a cookbook focused squarely on endurance sport athletes, so perhaps the source is rather bougie, but this particular meal is quite simplistic, and yet very very good.

If doing the original recipe as intended "for 2" :

8 oz. Angel hair pasta
8 oz bacon
2 ears of Sweet corn
1 can diced tomatoes
basil leaves cut into strips for flavor (honestly, I've always forgotten this step)


Carefully cut the kernels off of the ears of corn
Cook the bacon, then put in a paper towel lined bowl (or a strainer over a collection cup, if you collect bacon grease religiously)
With that same pan start cooking the corn kernels, I usually just go long enough to start getting a bit of sear to it.
Cook up the angel hair pasta, drain and put into a large mixing bowl.
Dump the corn, the bacon, and the diced tomatoes in with the pasta and mix it up.

Serve it up, and top with the basil leaves (if you want to, i dont care, as I said above, I forget alot)


It is a pretty tasty, quick and easy to make type meal, and most of the ingredients aren't special, and aren't very expensive. I mean, the most spendy thing there is the bacon. One of the things we have found also is, if its available near you "peppered" bacon ads just a bit extra oomph to the flavor profile without having to do much extra thinking.

Spoiling myself today with an Oxtail Stew.

1kg Oxtail, dusted in lour and seared before going in the crock pot.

500ml Guinness Original (bottle not can)

500ml Beef Stock.

Carrots, celery, spuds and onions to taste. Roughly chopped.

1 tin chopped tomatoes.

8 hours on high heat. Still a little over two hours to go, but just had a taste and it’s very good! So much beefy flavour, with the veg complimenting nicely.

I’m gonna be a well fed fat little piggy tonight!

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:

500ml Guinness Original (bottle not can)

Just out of curiosity, is this for any reason in particular (beyond perhaps just size of the cans available) ?

Was the one I grabbed, and wanted to be specific!

I think it’s a slightly different recipe though. Bottle is down in the bin though.

Here’s a link to their website. https://www.guinness.com/en-gb/our-beers/guinness-original/

I used a splash or two to deglaze the frying i seared the Oxtail in, and I can tell you it smelled amazing. All that flavour of course went into the stew.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
Was the one I grabbed, and wanted to be specific!

I think it’s a slightly different recipe though. Bottle is down in the bin though.

Ahh, makes sense. . . I mean, I know the cans here in the US have that nitro widget thingy that does the guinness thing.

And while I've never had oxtail, what you describe does sound quite good

It’s a very solid winter warmer. Plus Oxtail is a fairly cheap cut of meat. Not as cheap as it used to be (thanks, Hipsters. Thipsters) but still cheap enough. Being a tail, and bone in, it does of course need to be stewed to make the most of the collagen and marrow.

Worth tracking down, and definitely worth heading to a decent Butcher to get it. Not only are they more likely to have it, but you’ve a greater chance of getting roughly even sized pieces.

Stuff I got was a wonky mix, but it’s all flavour at the end of the day!


Automatically Appended Next Post:
First bowl devoured. It’s very good! Kind of wish I’d added some herbs, just to brighten the flavour, and will use some Worcestershire or Henderson’s in my next bowl. It’s a very unctuous dish due to all the tasty bits of the beef, so the acidity should cut through it just enough to balance things.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
So long as it’s tasty, authenticity is a secondary concern!

Fight them foods snobs Doc with their Unicorn hearts pan fried in Angel tears nonsense, the purpose of food is a) be yummy to you b) not dying, not belittling others for having better things to do than pass off whatever you googled as worthwhile know-wots

Nigel Slater in particular can get in a bin then get in the sea!

Simple Suppers my hairy bum cleft.

I do almost all of the cooking in my house and I've started to struggle with coming up with different things to try. It's too easy to fall back on the same simple standards, but I want to try new things!

Sadly the local grocery stores don't exactly have a lot of variety.

So it's a chicken stir fry day. I have chicken, vegetables, and rice, after all.

I count myself lucky that I live metres away from my town’s major supermarket. It’s helpful, as if I’m half way through something and find I’ve forgotten an ingredient, spice or herb, it’s quick enough I can nip out and get what I need.

Given how rich the Oxtail Stew is, I’m now considering adding a pinch of two of dried coriander. Give it that herby sweetness.

Best thing about Stews is that provided you know your basics, they’re really really hard to mess up!

And remember. Whether it’s wine, beer or a spirit? If you wouldn’t drink it, don’t cook with it. And not knocking wine as a whole, it’s something I don’t enjoy drinking, hence I tend to stick to beefy stews, where a good ale or stout works just as nicely - though you do need to add the acidity wine has that beer typically lacks.

 krijthebold wrote:
I do almost all of the cooking in my house and I've started to struggle with coming up with different things to try. It's too easy to fall back on the same simple standards, but I want to try new things!

Sadly the local grocery stores don't exactly have a lot of variety.

Im in a similar boat. Although I do own about a dozen cookbooks of various varieties (meaning some are aimed at families, some are athletics specific diets, there's a paleo cookbook around there, some celebrity chef books, even a few meatless cookbooks that have some, frankly, amazing recipes in them)

And at the moment, the variety at our grocers is more due to the fact that the major N-S highway has been shut down due to flooding, and ALL mountain passes in the state have shut down due to snow, means we aren't getting the resupply that the area normally sees.

Made a slow cooked chicken verde and Spanish rice for the side. Turned out really well and made for some tasty leftovers.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:

Given how rich the Oxtail Stew is, I’m now considering adding a pinch of two of dried coriander. Give it that herby sweetness.

I've done Oxtail Stew slow cooked with a red Thai chili paste in the past and really enjoyed it. Never considered using dried coriander though, that could be a lot of fun.

It’s something my step-Gran used to do. Only really works in a really rich beef stew though, and I’ve no idea if she used fresh or dried Coriander.

But hey, cooking is all about experimenting!

I suspect adding some dried coriander to dumplings (suet dumplings, not Asian style dumplings!) might help?

The smell of ground up coriander seeds has always made it one of my favorite spices both dried and freshly ground with a mortar and pestle. I'll have to give them a try with dumplings too

 Ensis Ferrae wrote:

 krijthebold wrote:
I do almost all of the cooking in my house and I've started to struggle with coming up with different things to try. It's too easy to fall back on the same simple standards, but I want to try new things!

Sadly the local grocery stores don't exactly have a lot of variety.

Im in a similar boat. Although I do own about a dozen cookbooks of various varieties (meaning some are aimed at families, some are athletics specific diets, there's a paleo cookbook around there, some celebrity chef books, even a few meatless cookbooks that have some, frankly, amazing recipes in them)

And at the moment, the variety at our grocers is more due to the fact that the major N-S highway has been shut down due to flooding, and ALL mountain passes in the state have shut down due to snow, means we aren't getting the resupply that the area normally sees.

Oh, I love collecting cookbooks. I've got all sorts too, including a couple of local ones put out by by like... village firefighters, back in the 80's, and so on.

Those ones can sometimes be the most useful, because I can at least get ahold of the ingredients, basic as they are.

No mountain passes here, just remote and at the end of the supply chains.

Someone name me a simple but still fancy recipe for shrimp.

I've got goals for this valentine's day dinner.

And those goals are to make my wife a simple yet fancy dish involving shrimp.

Starter or Main course?

And what size Shrimp?

It's a main course, and the size is really going to have to be "whatever is available" so probably large?

Spicy, not spicy?

And what cooking equipment do you have?

It'll have to be less spicy at least, my wife isn't a big fan of overly spicy things.

I've got the usual sets of pots and pans, an oven, a crock pot, and... a rice cooker? Not much else to be honest.

Maybe this?

https://therecipecritic.com/sticky-honey-garlic-butter-shrimp/

Baked shrimp with stuffing is pretty easy and yummy.

 krijthebold wrote:
Someone name me a simple but still fancy recipe for shrimp.

I've got goals for this valentine's day dinner.

And those goals are to make my wife a simple yet fancy dish involving shrimp.

http://mykentuckyhome-kim.blogspot.com/2011/02/emerils-garlicky-sizzling-shrimp.html

This was taken basically verbatim, directly from a cookbook I own (its actually mentioned in the BS part of the recipe) and I'll say that it has impressed many people over the years cooking it.